MI / Lansing - 2009-12

[carly]

I hope they survive too, it was so exciting to hear that Stelco had reclaimed her site again so hoping the other two make it.  Would putting in a new box or disinfecting and cleaning this one make any difference at all - at the end of the season I mean?  I did wonder about why the chick would jump to it's death however I'm not really experienced enough to comment on that myself.  I was always told that age was the issue, if too old then they would jump but they looked pretty white to me.  I wonder if their illness made have had a bearing on their reaction.  Or maybe the little chick didn't mean to jump but kind of accidently did it just to get away from them.  Poor little thing and poor parents having to witness that 

[Alison]

They went to band the 4 chicks yesterday and one of them jumped out of the box to it's death.  The other died on the way to being banded, they said he was very anemic. Saw the two remaining babies napping in the nest but it's dark, they look a good size though - hope they make it.  Apparently they were covered in lice and so was the nestbox.  The box and chicks have both been dusted with parasite powder.

This is so very sad, for Stelco and MP to lose half of their clutch at banding. I always thought one of the principles of banding was that it should only be done when it was safe to do so, and this kind of loss does make me wonder.

I know a number of sites mention each year that the chicks do have avian lice, but not to the extent of being a problem for them. I hope the two surviving chicks will be okay.

[The Peregrine Chick]

I'm always interested in the lice/flea reports, we really haven't noticed that in our boxes and it makes me wonder if the fact that we have cold cold winters doesn't help our birds out ... kills whatever is leftover in the box so the following year the birds start out with a clean slate.  But that is purely speculative on my part, it may just be blind good luck ... and generations of a family of neat freaks 

[carly]

Found this on Alison's site just now posted by Dina.  Sad news.  Hope she does not mind I post it here.  Just highlights the different types of challenges our peregrines face. 

They went to band the 4 chicks yesterday and one of them jumped out of the box to it's death.  The other died on the way to being banded, they said he was very anemic. Saw the two remaining babies napping in the nest but it's dark, they look a good size though - hope they make it.  Apparently they were covered in lice and so was the nestbox.  The box and chicks have both been dusted with parasite powder.

[carly]

Thank you Alison!  Nice to see one of ours doing well and thriving! 

[Alison]

2009 NESTING SEASON

Since we don't have a listing for Michigan, I thought I'd post this here.  Stelco, born in 1997 at the Hamilton nest, and her mate MP have four chicks at the Lansing nest. Last year they successfully raised five chicks. Stelco laid five eggs in both 2006 and 2007, but none of them hatched. Stelco has been at this nest since 1999.

 

webcam link: http://www.lbwl.com/FalconCam2008.asp